Surrey family devastated over loss of daughter in deadly shooting

Maple Batalia, an aspiring model and actress.

Photograph by: Global TV
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METRO VANCOUVER - When Maple Batalia was born 19 years ago near Mumbai, her family says “it was the best gift we ever got in our lives.”

And when the Simon Fraser University student was gunned down early Wednesday in a Surrey parkade, it was “the worst thing that happened to us in all our lives,” her devastated father Harry told The Vancouver Sun.

“I lost everything I had. My precious jewel is no more,” Batalia said of Maple, an aspiring actress and model.

He said Maple never spoke a harsh word about anyone, but was having some trouble with a former boyfriend.

And he said he thinks her early morning execution “was out of hatred and vengeance.”

Batalia, a retired heavy-duty mechanic, said Maple broke up with the young man because she “might have learned of bad deeds, dirty money coming in.”

All the family knows about her former relationship has been passed to the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, which has 25 officers on the case.

Batalia met with police Wednesday afternoon and knows they are working hard.

“They are doing their best,” he said.

Sgt. Peter Thiessen said police have not yet identified a suspect or motive in the death of the popular SFU student, who was shot near her burgundy sedan on the third level of the City Centre Parkade adjacent to SFU’s Surrey campus at 102 Avenue and 134 Street.

Thiessen said he couldn’t comment on information that Batalia had sought a no-contact order against a former boyfriend in recent months.

“We certainly have some avenues of investigation and some theories and scenarios with regards to what occurred and why it may have occurred,” Thiessen told reporters. “But we cannot say factually and with a clear conscience that in fact it was targeted. We understand that that may unduly alarm some of the community.”

He said the 911 calls reporting shots fired flooded Surrey RCMP about 1:10 a.m. When uniformed officers arrived they found the victim “suffering from what can only be described as significant and multiple gunshot wounds.”

“Those two uniformed officers did everything they could in an effort to save this young lady’s life,” Thiessen said. Maple was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.

MacLachlan said the library was closed when the shooting occurred but that there are many public areas of the campus where students can study throughout the night. There is a security guard in the lobby of the main building.

“A lot of our students are really in a state of shock over this,” MacLachlan said, adding that SFU leaders don’t think there is a risk to other students.

Many students used social media to share their memories of their friend.

Thiessen said that while it is too early to say for sure the shooting was targeted, “it would be completely irresponsible to unduly alarm anyone or to put this in a particular category.”

“We have got significant resources dealing with it. We have a team of seasoned homicide investigators,” Thiessen said.

Police also have forensic specialists and a dog team helping with the investigation.

“If we need more resources, we are going to get them,” Thiessen said.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact the IHIT tip line at 1-877-551-4448.

Batalia chose his daughter’s unusual first name after spending some time in the U.S. during autumn, when the leaves were falling.

“I loved the leaf. I looked at all the pretty trees when all the leaves start shedding and the colours start changing,” he recalled. “It was the time when she was born.”

When the nurse asked what name he wanted to put on her birth certificate, he and wife Sarbjit agreed: “Maple.”

“At that stage, we never knew we were going to be immigrants for Canada,” he said.

Batalia said he thought Canada would provide amazing opportunities for his family. Maple had a lifetime of opportunities before her — she had just been named a finalist in the Central City Model Search and played a small role in the feature film, Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

“She had to go to Alberta to do some more auditions and some kind of acting,” her proud father said.

He never imagined he would be planning Maple’s funeral instead of her future.

All he wants now is to get justice for Maple.

“Please say a special prayer for us — that we live to see justice happen,” he said.

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